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IB Psychology HL - BLOA - Examine One Evolutionary Explanation of Behaviour

Psychology9 CardsCreated 7 months ago

Individuals with traits better adapted to their environment have a higher chance of survival and reproduction, so those traits become more common over time.

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Darwin’s theory of natural selection

5 main points:

  • overpopulation + scarce resources = struggle to survive

  • variations in individual traits due to mutations and meiosis (e.g. crossing over)

  • better adapted traits = higher chance of survival

  • more successful traits are favored by natural selection

  • over time more successful traits become more prevalent in the population

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Key Terms

Term
Definition

Darwin’s theory of natural selection

5 main points:

  • overpopulation + scarce resources = struggle to survive

    • ...

disgust in pregnant women

  • nausea and loss of appetite during pregnancy may have an evolutionary basis

  • Fessler et al. (2005) - aim

    to investigate if disgust sensitivity elevated during the first trimester of pregnancy

Fessler et al. (2005) - process

  1. 691 women completed a web-based survey through pregnancy-related sites

Fessler et al. (2005) - findings and conclusion

  • disgust sensitivity related to food and body products higher with women in first trimester compared to other tri...

Fessler et al. (2005) - evaluation

  • data is empirically supported: Curtiss et al. (2004) also reported that images of objects threatening the immune...

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IB Psychology HL - BLOA - Examine One Evolutionary Explanation of Behaviour
TermDefinition

Darwin’s theory of natural selection

5 main points:

  • overpopulation + scarce resources = struggle to survive

  • variations in individual traits due to mutations and meiosis (e.g. crossing over)

  • better adapted traits = higher chance of survival

  • more successful traits are favored by natural selection

  • over time more successful traits become more prevalent in the population

disgust in pregnant women

  • nausea and loss of appetite during pregnancy may have an evolutionary basis

  • disgust may be a food-rejection mechanism to prevent contamination and the spread of illness

  • could be a way to protect the mother and fetus from diseases that could threaten the fetus

main study: Fessler et al. (2005)

Fessler et al. (2005) - aim

to investigate if disgust sensitivity elevated during the first trimester of pregnancy

Fessler et al. (2005) - process

  1. 691 women completed a web-based survey through pregnancy-related sites

  2. Participants were asked to:
    - indicate current levels of nausea (out of 16)
    - answer questions to test disgust sensitivity pertaining to 8 different areas (e.g. food, hygiene, etc)

Fessler et al. (2005) - findings and conclusion

  • disgust sensitivity related to food and body products higher with women in first trimester compared to other trimesters

  • disgust particularly elevated in relation to food

  • likely because food-borne diseases are particularly dangerous in the first trimester

  • thus results indicate that disgust is evolved behaviour

  • as it limits the likelihood that pregnant women will eat dangerous food

Fessler et al. (2005) - evaluation

  • data is empirically supported: Curtiss et al. (2004) also reported that images of objects threatening the immune system were judged as more disgusting

  • unreliable: data was collected through questionnaires

evolutionary assumptions that the behaviour supports

disgust aids survival as a form of protection against potential sources of disease

evaluation of evolutionary explanations

  • difficult to test evolutionary theories

  • evolutionary explanations tend to undermine the significance of cultural influences

  • Davey (1974): disgust for spiders may be explained by people’s need to find tangible causes of illness and disease when causes were unclear

what to write when asked: “Examine one evolutionary explanation of behaviour”

  • outline Darwin’s theory of natural selection

  • distinguish individual components of the theory and discuss how they relate to one another

  • “innate, naturally-selected traits benefit the individual” –
    explain using Fessler et al. (2005)

  • discuss how specific research methods used to explore Darwin’s theory may influence the data gathered

  • evaluate whether evolutionary explanations are credible + explain WITH EVIDENCE why you think so